Torrington's own Robbie Albreada is living his dream as crew chief for Bachetti Motorsports. Tim Gaffney has the recent UConn graduates story.

TORRINGTON: For Robbie Albreada, it’s always been about the cars. Whether it was driving them or working on them, it didn’t matter.

The Wolcott Tech and University of Connecticut graduate simply loves everything about dealing with machines that go fast and now he is living his dream by doing it full time.

After spending most of his younger years in the driver’s seat for Andy Bachetti Racing, Albreada has graduated from more than just college, he’s now the crew chief, the guy who runs things down on the track.

For a kid who grew up tinkering with everything, it could not have worked out any better.

“It’s more responsibility for me but I couldn’t be happier,” Albreada said. “I run a crew of about 10 guys who are doing just about everything to the cars we run.”

He now wakes up every day and does what he wants for a living, that’s something special.

Albreada splits time between two things he loves, running the Bachetti Auto Sales web-site and keeping his hands in the mix in the pit.

“We have five cars in our fleet,” Albreada said. “We check them from front to back after every race. Our drivers give us feedback about how they handled and what was and wasn’t working.”

Communication is key between driver and crew chief and with his time behind the wheel over the past three years, Albreada understands it’s a critical part of keeping things humming.

“Track time was huge for me,” Albreada said. “I learned a ton and can now bring that to this side of the team.”

The 2014 campaign is approaching the halfway point and the team has seen mixed results to date.

Bachetti racing hits the track 2-3 times per week. Friday night the team heads out to Accord Speedway in upstate New York.

So far this year, Bachetti is leading in the points race with 292 but the competition has been tough and Mother Nature tougher.

More than half the races this season have fallen victim to bad weather, making it hard for the team to separate from the chasers.

Their story at their second location, Lebanon Valley, has been one of disappointment to date but after being the team to beat coming into the 2014 season, things are starting to turn in their favor.

“We had a great year in 2013,” Albreada said. “We won 10 of 12 races last season and were the favorites coming in this year. We had some bad luck, some engine trouble and have just struggled so far.”

Bachetti Racing currently sits in 10th place with 436 points, 88 off the lead but had a second place showing this past Saturday, an encouraging sign.

In 2013, the team’s biggest win came at Lebanon when Bachetti won the prestigious “Mr. Dirt Title” and the $17,500 prize that came with it.

It was a dominant win for the team, who led all 100 laps of this grueling race.

They will be back in Lebanon (half way between Albany, New York and Pittsfield, MA) on August 14 to defend the title.

Bachetti had accumulated 31 wins at Lebanon over 10 years, good for seventh overall in track history.

The team will also hit the Albany/Saratoga Speedway. Thunder Mountain and the Penn-Cam Speedway before this season wraps up in early September in Accord and early November at Lebanon.

Lebanon came back into the picture with the team’s strong showing over the Fourth of July weekend, look for Albreada and his team to keep Bachetti Racing directly in the hunt during second half action on Saturday nights.

“We need a little luck and cooperation from Mother Nature,” Albreada said. “If we prepare well and get ourselves in good position, we can have a great second half.”